Chapter 534: Scam
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
In the ancient myths from my original world, there was a Greek G.o.ddess known as Persephone who was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Hades, the G.o.d of h.e.l.l, fell in love with Persephone and decided to kidnap her, bringing her to his dark underworld of death.
Persephone also later became the G.o.ddess of Spring and Harvests. Anywhere she stayed would forever have excellent harvests and a perfect spring climate. This brought the only sign of paradise to the pitch-black h.e.l.l. I had also named my sub-dimension of h.e.l.l the Land of Spring after this myth.
But, Zeus was the ruling G.o.d at the time, and Demeter was one of the twelve Olympians of the Greek pantheon. Even Hades didn’t have the power to directly resist them. So, he played a little trick.
Before he returned Persephone, he successfully fooled Persephone into eating six pomegranate seeds from h.e.l.l!
The items of h.e.l.l had their own dimensional laws. It was impossible for the living to eat the food for the dead. Eating the food of h.e.l.l meant becoming one of h.e.l.l’s residents. That was why, despite Zeus and the other ruling G.o.ds’ powers, Persephone the G.o.ddess of Spring was still forced to remain in h.e.l.l for six months of the year.
“Ha, this story tells us that we shouldn’t just randomly eat things picked off the ground. It’s an even worse idea to accept food from wicked strangers.”
I laughed out loud proudly at how easily Conservation had fallen for my trick.
But if you thought about it, this result was only natural. It was impossible for Conservation to know that the “aura of death” that she sensed wasn’t actually the aura of death at all.
What she sensed was actually Hades Mist, a special product of my h.e.l.l. Hades Mist was something brand new that had only been created seven years ago. Hades Mist was also the most nutritious product possible for any undead. The undead even addressed Hades Mist as “h.e.l.l’s Fountain of Grace.”
Hades Mist contained the Concept of Death as well as h.e.l.l’s dimensional laws. Devils were capable of using Hades Mist to transform into the defenders of h.e.l.l, h.e.l.l Devils. The undead could obtain unlimited power and even true immortality from Hades Mist. However, there was naturally a price to be paid for this swift acquisition of power.
“Conservation, please enjoy the beautiful taste of this Hades Mist just like Persephone did with her pomegranate seeds. And then, please stay in h.e.l.l forever, just like Persephone did.”
Back in the battle for h.e.l.l’s existence, all the undead warriors in the Yongye Army had also imbibed from this “h.e.l.l’s Fountain”. Although they all obtained power and indestructible bodies, they all paid a great price: it would be impossible for any of them to ever leave h.e.l.l again.
However, my undead warriors had all known about the consequences of this power, and they made the decision to absorb Hades Mist regardless of it for themselves. Of course, I wasn’t going to be kindhearted enough to explain this to Conservation.
Perhaps Conservation would be able to notice a problem with her experience and power level. However, Hades Mist would be an irresistible temptation for any undead. This was just like honey for a bear. It would be an instinctive desire, just as how a starving person would find it nearly impossible to resist the scent of a wonderful feast, or how a greedy person would find it impossible to resist a huge stack of dollar bills right before them. The most basic instincts would overrule the caution of logic and reason.
And, Conservation was now greatly weakened from the earlier explosion. This would greatly increase her instinctive desire for Hades Mist.
Once a sufficiently tempting lure overwhelmed a person’s logic and reason, even if there were obvious signs that the lure was actually a trap, the person being fooled would come up with a “reasonable explanation” on behalf of the scammer.
“So, this means that you’ve now found a h.e.l.l G.o.ddess for your home? You’re not afraid of her rebelling and destroying your home?”
“Ha, once she eats enough Hades Mist, it will become impossible for her to ever leave that area again. At that time, I can do whatever I want to her. Haha, I’ll starve her for half a year first! Let me see if Conservation can still remain so calm after remaining in my personal h.e.l.l world all by herself for half a year. Women can’t be spoiled.”
“Oh, congratulations to you for fooling yet another woman into joining your household.”
“What are you saying, what do you mean by fool… Wait a moment, my dear Amelia, I was just bragging earlier, that’s not what I really meant!”
I turned around and discovered that Amelia had such a “bright and sunny smile”, helping me to recall that my crisis wasn’t over yet. In fact, perhaps it was only beginning.
“Wait a moment, my dear Amelia, I can explain! Please don’t constrict with those vines! My, my waist! My ribs are breaking!”
Meanwhile, deep underground in the ruins, everyone suddenly met the objective of their journey. The out of control Sky Tower Spirit finally appeared in front of everyone.
“What is that…?”
“So disgusting.
A distorted shadow had appeared. Its core appeared to be a distortion similar to a black hole, and countless faces could be seen all over the shadow’s body.
There were adult, children, male, and female human faces. The only point in common was that every single face had an expression of extreme pain.
The faces were screaming, howling, despairing, and raging. Every negative emotion possible could be seen on this black shadowy round ent.i.ty. Every single face was distorted and praying for someone to save them, but not a single sound could be heard. The only sound emitted from the core of the shadowy ent.i.ty was a voice filled with delight.
“Foolish natural humans, the rise of us ‘Heavenly Wise Ones’ is unstoppable. We have prepared for this day for several millennia. Our ideal reality is right before us. You dare to invade our home on this day? You seek death! It is the destiny of natural souls to become the sacrifices and food for us Heavenly Wise Ones.”
While stating that vicious threat, the face-covered ent.i.ty suddenly cracked open the face of a middle-aged woman who then vanished. And, it seemed as if the shadowy Sky Tower Spirit had just had a full meal as it slightly expanded in size.
The Sky Tower Spirit reached out with its shadowy arm, and there was a flash of black light as two souls floated out from somewhere. The souls screamed as they were devoured, and their faces appeared where the middle-aged woman’s face had been earlier.
*Retch…*
Evidently, the Sky Tower Spirit was digesting the soul. A young priest among the mercenaries was already throwing up.
“Haha, foolish and weak natural humans. Remember my name! I am the creator, S1! I am the only king of the new generation belonging to us Heavenly Wise Ones.”
Seeing the humans’ panic and shock, S1 began laughing maniacally and proudly. He then even summoned the soul of a young child and directly devoured it in front of everyone.
“Mommy…!!!”
The screaming and crying of the child before its soul was torn into pieces echoed throughout the entire floor. Even the cold-blooded dragon lich Winlair had a grim expression after seeing this.
“Don’t be hasty! He’s intentionally trying to anger us!”
Indeed, while everyone knew that S1 was intentionally trying to anger them, it was impossible for anyone to subdue the rage burning within their hearts.
However, only the dragon lich and Timlad knew what S1 had truly accomplished here.
“The Haletdam generation had advanced to such a degree? No wonder the G.o.ds wouldn’t accept their existence. Just this technology alone would bring down divine punishment upon them.”
Even if undead mages desecrated and abused souls, those soul shards would still eventually return to the Cycle of Reincarnation. Even if demons devoured souls, the souls would still obtain freedom and enter the Cycle of Reincarnation after the demon’s death.
But, when natural souls became a type of energy to replenish the power of an artificial soul, the consumed natural souls would never be able to return to the Cycle of Reincarnation.
While everyone was angry, reality was another matter.
n.o.body had even been able to defeat the Roland spirit image duplicate. And now, S1 had unhesitatingly used up all the energy reserves of the warrior training facility to create four of the most famous and strongest warriors from the Haletdam generation—Soaring Sophe, Blood Butcher Girwell, Dragon King Seir, and Sword Emperor Cindler.
These spiritual creature duplicates were all new independent existences. They didn’t need to obey the rule of not being allowed to kill Katerina, as she wasn’t their master. As long as S1 eliminated Timlad and Katerina here, the Sky Tower Spirit would obtain the freedom he had been dreaming of for so long.
But, S1 still felt that this wasn’t enough. He even summoned countless souls and forced them within the five created spiritual creatures’ bodies to give them the strongest fighting strength possible.
“He’s giving those artificial souls their own will! He’s giving these warriors the greatest possible power up!”
But even though they knew about the situation, everyone had no way of doing anything about it. They could only watch S1 do as he pleased. But as everyone watched anxiously, Timlad’s evident delight obviously didn’t fit with everyone else.
Suddenly, the first spiritual creature to have been created, the duplicate Roland spirit image, spoke to the adventuring team.
“Flesh and blood humans, perhaps we can make a deal.”